ELECTRA
Chorus
Daughter, why weepest thou?
Electra
Woe!
Chorus
Hush! No rash cry!
Electra
Thou’lt be my death.
Chorus
What meanest thou?
Electra
If ye would whisper hope
That they we know for dead may be alive;
Ye trample on a bleeding heart.
Chorus
Nay, I bethink me how (Ant. 1)
The Argive seer[1] was swallowed up,
Snared by a woman for a golden chain,
And now in the nether world—
Electra
Ah me!
Chorus
A living soul he reigns.
Electra
Ah woe!
Chorus
Aye woe! for the murderess—
Electra
Was slain.
- ↑ Amphiaraus. Induced by his wife Eriphyle to join the expedition of Polyneices against Argos, he was swallowed up by an earthquake. His son (like Orestes) avenged his father and Amphiaraus was honoured as an earth-god.
189
